Questions about town and parish councils
Follow Councillor Q&A on X/Twitter

Follow us on X/Twitter

0 votes
Believe it or not.... we have 6 parish notice boards in our small parish   If we post our agenda on our website have we complied..... most of our neighbouring parish councils have one.......   Do we need to print and post on each board?
by (1.5k points)

2 Answers

0 votes

You still need to comply with The Local Govt Act 1972 Schedule 12 (2) Three clear days at least before a meeting of a parish council—
(a) notice of the time and place of the intended meeting shall be fixed in some conspicuous place in the parish and, where the meeting is called by members of the council, the notice shall be signed by those members and shall specify the business proposed to be transacted at the meeting;

The  The Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014 (S.I. 2014/...) also says

Notice of the meeting specifying the business to be discussed must be placed in a central conspicuous place within the parish or area at least 3 clear days before the meeting. These councils are also encouraged to place copies of the agenda, meeting papers and notice of meetings at offices and on their website, if they have these facilities.

So the website alone is not satifactory, but it might not be necessary to use all 6 boards.

by (34.9k points)
Just playing devil's advocate here:

Could a website not be considered a central conspicuous place within the Parish. There seems to be an assumption that this must be a physical location, but the wording doesn't say that.

I know it will be argued that not everyone has access to the internet, but I don't see anything in the section you've quoted that specifically requires noticeboards unless I am missing something?
Well the clue is in "These councils are also encouraged to place copies of the agenda, meeting papers and notice of meetings at offices and on their website, if they have these facilities."  The legislation regards a website as an alternative to a conspicuous place rather  than actually being one it seems.
+1 vote
This kind of begs the question, why have 6 notice boards if having that many creates too much hassle putting notices on them?

You could have 1 primary board (perhaps in the most central position) where paper copy of agenda are posted for those without tinterweb access but having 6 that you (appear) not to use seems a waste of money.
by (6.4k points)
Notice Board Law

Welcome to Town & Parish Councillor Q&A, where you can ask questions and receive answers from other members of the community. All genuine questions and answers are welcome. Follow us on Twitter to see the latest questions as they are asked - click on the image button above or follow @TownCouncilQA. Posts from new members may be delayed as we are unfortunately obliged to check each one for spam. Spammers will be blacklisted.

You may find the following links useful:

We have a privacy policy and a cookie policy.

Clares Cushions logo Peacock cushion

Clare's Cushions creates beautiful hand made cushions and home accessories from gorgeous comtemporary fabrics. We have a fantastic selection of prints including Sophie Allport and Orla Kiely designs and most covers can be ordered either alone or with a cushion inner. Buying new cushions is an affordable and effective way to update your home interior, they're also a great gift idea. Visit our site now

2,896 questions
5,619 answers
7,954 comments
10,028 users
Google Analytics Alternative